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Former state Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow and three former Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials are charged with a form of taking bribes, but no one is charged with actually bribing them.

The state attorney general's office won't say why.

AG spokesman Dennis Fisher said the office is letting the statewide investigating grand jury presentment used to charge the four and others in the case speak for itself and will not have any further comment.

Two other men are charged with providing gifts to one of the turnpike officials in hopes of getting contracts - a charge similar to bribery but not the formal bribery charge outlined in state law.

Other companies, including PNC Bank and one of its top executives, who had a close personal relationship with Mr. Mellow, face no charges at all. The bank, for example, provided Mr. Mellow with more than $3,500 in tickets to New York Yankees games, rock concerts and other entertainment and got more than $2.4 million in fees for underwriting turnpike bonds over a six-year period, according to the presentment.

Other vendors, who contributed to the political campaigns of Mr. Mellow and other politicians including Gov. Ed Rendell, were also not charged and went unnamed in the presentment.

The presentment, used as the basis for charges against Mr. Mellow, the three ex-turnpike officials, the two men charged with providing gifts and two other former turnpike employees, says the grand jury identified them "as having criminal responsibility and intent in the implementation, maintenance and exercise of their authority over the turnpike."

At a news conference last week, state Attorney General Kathleen Granahan Kane declined to say if others will be charged in the case and only said the investigation is ongoing.

Mr. Mellow, former turnpike chief executive officer Joseph Brimmeier, former chief operations officer George Hatalowich and former commission chairman Mitchell Rubin are charged with commercial bribery and other counts, including running a corrupt organization and bid-rigging by requiring campaign contributions to do business with the commission.

Dennis Miller, a vice president of Ciber Inc., and Jeffrey Suzenski, who represented companies he owns and others doing business with the turnpike commission, are charged with committing an act restricted by state ethics law - providing gifts illegally - to Mr. Hatalowich, among other charges. The two other former turnpike employees, Raymond Zajicek and Melvin Shelton, are charged with crimes unrelated to those of the other men.

Along with Mr. Mellow's chief of staff, Tony Lepore, who received immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation, Mr. Mellow and the top turnpike officials were part of a scheme centered on getting turnpike vendors to contribute to the political campaigns of Mr. Mellow and other politicians, including Mr. Rendell, according to the presentment. Mr. Rendell is not charged and denies any knowledge of what went on.

The presentment makes clear that in at least one case, a vendor, the unnamed vice president of Mackin Engeineering, understood what he was being asked to do, made political contributions in exchange for business and complained when he was snubbed.

Experts in white-collar crime and criminal defense say the likeliest reason no one is charged with paying bribes by making political contributions is the contributors are cooperating with the prosecution.

The presentment notes several instances of vendors who testified before the grand jury.

The idea that people who made the contributions were not charged bothers Mr. D'Andrea.

"I have a hard time with somebody paying to get their job or their contract and then saying they're a victim," he said. "They're (prosecutors are) going to portray the vendors as victims."

The idea that a political contribution could be part of a bribery scheme raises an interesting question itself, Mr. D'Andrea said. Often, political contributions are made with the expectation that it will influence a decision without anyone explicitly saying that.

"When does normal politicking cross the line to become extortion or bribery?" he asked.

Attorney S. Michael Streib, a Duquesne University School of Law professor with experience in prosecuting white-collar crime, said prosecutors and society generally view public officials engaged in a bribery scheme differently than the people paying them off.

"People look more harshly on someone who hold and are willing to violate the public trust than they do the private sector," Mr. Streib said.

Prosecutors might also have focused on the public officials because they initiated the scheme and forced the payments, leaving the vendors feeling helpless but to comply, he said.

Attorney Ernie Preate, a former attorney general who served prison time on a mail fraud charge more than 15 years ago, said he doesn't understand why no charges were filed against companies or individuals that gave contributions once they understood that was the way to get contracts.

"These are all intelligent people with their lawyers and accountants. They all knew how this worked," he said. "This went on for years. It's not a one-time event."

In the case of PNC Bank, the presentment says the bank actively sought Mr. Mellow's help getting turnpike bond underwriting work, then provided baseball and concert tickets and other entertainment. Mr. Mellow was close to "one of the PNC regional presidents," the presentment says, quoting Lepore.

While Mr. Lepore referred to the PNC official as a regional president, the presentment refers to an unnamed "regional vice president."

A spokesman for PNC Bank has repeatedly declined to comment on the bank's involvement.

"We do not comment on legal proceedings," PNC spokesman Fred Solomon said Thursday.

Peter J. Danchak, PNC's regional president, has refused to return the newspaper's phone calls. In two attempts to visit his downtown Scranton office this week, a reporter was told he was not in.

Asked about the identity of the PNC official at the Greater Pittston Friendly Sons of St. Patrick dinner Sunday in Wilkes-Barre, State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan declined to identify the official.

"A smart girl like you can probably figure it out," Mr. Noonan told a Times-Tribune reporter.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com

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